


Three Months

by notjustmom



Series: Ironstrange [2]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Established Tony Stark/Stephen Strange, M/M, Tony's abduction, Tony's return from Afghanistan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-06 17:50:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17349791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustmom/pseuds/notjustmom
Summary: This takes place during the time when Tony is abducted and held for three months in Afghanistan, basically how a pre-Kamar-Taj Strange might deal with Tony's absence.





	1. Chapter 1

“Rhodey.” Stephen looked around Colonel Rhodes expecting to see Tony nearby. “Look I’ve just finished a ridiculously long shift. Where is he, at home?”

“Stephen, is there a place we can talk?”

Stephen could tell there was something Rhodey was afraid to tell him, and he could have made him do it in the hallway, but he had the feeling this was something he needed to be sitting down for, so he led Rhodey into his office and closed the door. “Do I need to sit down?” He asked quietly.

“Probably best, yeah.” Rhodey cleared his throat and stood at attention as Stephen dropped into his chair, and turned to face his friend.

“Where is he, James?”

“Tony was in a different humvee. It took a wrong turn. About an hour later, we found the remains of the soldiers and air man he was traveling with near the humvee - it was basically torn apart, and Tony -”

“His body wasn’t found.”

Rhodey shook his head. “Thirty minutes later, we received a video, and a demand for payment. He’s alive. Injured but alive. We have hopes, that because he is - well -”

“He’s worth something to our government, and he’s Tony Stark -” Stephen muttered under his breath and Rhodey knew he had to tread carefully.

“We are still looking for him, but the chances of finding him in those mountains are...” he didn’t have to finish the sentence for Stephen to know the odds.

“How badly injured is he, James?”

Rhodey bit his lip and looked away.

“Damn it, James. Rhodey?”

“It appears - in the video, his chest is wrapped, the video is not of the best quality, and he didn’t speak.”

“A chest wound.”

“Yeah, look, Stephen.”

“Rhodey. You swore he’d be safe. Just a routine ‘sales pitch’ to the military, you said. And you know he can’t resist showing off, it’s his bread and butter, and then you, _you _left him there - in Afghanistan.”__

__“Every effort -”_ _

__Stephen’s pager vibrated in his pocket and he swore. “I have to - you can expect me to call every damn day until he’s home, Colonel.”_ _

__“I would expect nothing else from you, Doctor.”_ _

__Stephen shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “I know. Hell, I know he means a lot to you, Rhodey, but - Tony, he’s not, I can't -”_ _

__“I know, Stephen. I’m going back there tonight. I won’t come back until he’s on the plane with me. I will get him back home, Stephen, I swear.”_ _

__

__Days turned into weeks, as Stephen rarely went home except to sleep every once in a while and to start the work on the nursery. They had vaguely discussed adopting a baby over the past few years, but with Tony’s abduction, Stephen realized how much he wanted a family, their family, and he needed something positive that would keep him focused and stop him from thinking about what Tony was going through, and the fact that he was utterly powerless to do anything to stop it from happening._ _

__He had considered asking Rhodey for the video of the ransom demand, he knew he could have worn him down until he agreed and then he realized it was better that he didn’t know, he didn't want the last time he saw an image of Tony to be that particular image. There was nothing he could do, except to make the promised twice daily calls to make sure they were still looking. He knew Rhodey was doing his best, there were patrols sent out daily near where the humvee had been found - Rhodey wasn’t telling him everything he knew, but Stephen knew there was little his friend could do about that, classified information, bureaucratic, red-tape bullshit. He sat down in the pile of boxes and had to remind himself that he was a neurosurgeon with a PhD in biochemistry, a few boxes of IKEA furniture were not going to defeat him._ _

__

__Stephen even started picking up hours in the ER, much to Dr. Palmer’s surprise though she understood why. He needed the distraction. Even though he never said a word about what he was going through, everyone knew from the original 24/7 reports of Tony’s kidnapping, and as the weeks turned into months, Christine watched the hope gradually fade from his eyes, as the news reports dwindled to nothing._ _

__“You should go home, Stephen.”_ _

__“What for, Dr. Palmer?” He sighed back at her, not unkindly, and she finally saw the cracks in his famous bullet-proof armor. She had never quite understood his relationship with Stark, it seemed unlikely that two such famous or infamous egos could co-exist peacefully in the world let alone live together for as long as they had. He shrugged at her as if he had read her mind and muttered, “I fit better in the world with him than without him. He’s the one person who knows me, and loves me as I am - the house is too big and empty without him, and -.”_ _

__“I’m sorry, Stephen. I’m sure -”_ _

__“It’s been three months, Christine. If anyone could find a way out, it would be him, but -” He shrugged again, but nodded as he yanked off his surgical gloves. “You’re right, I think a night off isn’t a bad -”_ _

__He froze as his phone went off, it was Tony’s ridiculous ringtone that he had installed himself years before and had continued to install in each and every phone Stephen had ever owned. He usually had his phone muted at work, but had forgotten about it today. He just stared after he pulled it out of his pocket, even as it kept moaning in his hand, afraid to answer it._ _

__“Stephen -”_ _

__“Yeah, I know. ‘Hello?’ “_ _

__“Hey, Doc.”_ _

__“Where are you?” Somehow his voice worked, how, he wasn’t quite sure._ _

__“Home. Luckily, Jarvis recognized my voice such as it is, and let me in.”_ _

__“I’ll be right there.”_ _

__

__He didn’t remember the drive home, though it was probably more a result of sleep deprivation than anything else, then couldn’t get out of the car when he pulled into the garage, afraid, he was actually afraid of what he would see or wouldn’t see when he saw Tony again. He shook his head, ran his fingers through his hair and hoped Tony wouldn’t know - no, of course he would see at a glance how he had changed over the last three months, he knew him better than anyone else and -_ _

__“Stephen?” Rhodey had opened the car door and was offering him a hand. “He’s okay, considering, I tried to bring him to the hospital, to get checked out, but you know how he is about hospitals, he wanted -”_ _

__“About half a dozen cheeseburgers? And then he wanted to go back to work?”_ _

__“About the long and short of it, yeah. Listen -”_ _

__Stephen shook his head and took the offered hand, and allowed Rhodey to help him from the car. “No, I know. Thank you for bringing him home. I don’t want to know anything more, if he wants to tell me, that’s his business, okay?”_ _

__“Understood. I am sorry it took this long to get him home.”_ _

__“Yeah, me too, Rhodey, me too.” He watched Rhodey climb into his car and take off, then he quietly let himself into the house and went up the short flight of steps that led to Tony’s workshop. Even before he saw the familiar shape of the man he thought he’d never see again, he heard the music Tony would always put on when he was starting on a new project. Loud and techno, to him, it was just noise, to Tony, it helped to muffle all the hundreds of other ideas that buzzed around in his head so he could turn his laser focus on one thing. He whispered, “mute” and the music stopped abruptly._ _

__Tony spun in his chair and Stephen froze. In the center of Tony’s chest was a softly glowing blue light. He was shirtless, and even from where he stood, he could see the wounds that were still healing, the once perfect skin was mottled from too much time in the desert sun, and though he had always been in decent shape, whatever softness he’d possessed before Afghanistan was now all hard, sharply defined muscle. He watched as Tony slowly got to his feet, then stopped and waited. “Hey, Doc.”_ _

__Stephen moved slowly through the workshop, trying to think of the words to say, but found nothing that sounded quite right in his head, so he said nothing, until he stood in front of Tony and reached out a trembling hand towards his chest. “Tony?”_ _

__“It’s a long story, not very interesting. Go ahead, touch it, it won’t burn you.” He managed a lopsided grin as Stephen placed a large hand over the arc reactor, covering it completely. They stood there in silence for a moment, then Stephen lifted his hand from Tony’s chest and placed it carefully on the side of his face and realised he hadn’t taken a real breath in three months, when Tony leaned into his touch and he drew in a deep shuddering breath, then let it go._ _

__“It’s you.”_ _

__“Yeah, it’s me.”_ _

__“I’m sorry -”_ _

__“What do you have to be sorry for, Doc?” Tony reached up and brushed a long curl from Stephen’s eyes and shook his head. “You need a haircut, though I have missed the curls.”_ _

__“No one besides you has cut my hair in over ten years. I knew you would be home...” His words trailed off as Tony’s arms slowly wrapped around him and he let his head fall against Stephen’s chest. There were better words that he knew he should have been able to say to him, but as his own arms gingerly curled around the trembling man who leaned against him, all he could think to say over and over was, “you’re home, Stark. You’re home and you’re safe. I promise you, you’re safe now, I promise.”_ _


	2. Chapter 2

The first week of Tony’s return, they were both too exhausted to do anything but hold onto each other. Stephen took a leave of absence even though Tony tried half-heartedly to talk him out of it, and they spent most of the time curled up together on the couch watching old movies. Stephen tried to get Tony to eat, while Tony attempted to coax Stephen into closing his eyes and actually sleeping for longer than half an hour. Finally after Stephen drifted off after their first rather intense bout of love-making, Tony slipped from the couch, covered Stephen with a blanket and after he pressed a kiss to his forehead, took a long hot shower, dried his hair, then found the clippers and began to remove the remains of Afghanistan from his hair. He knew it wasn’t logical, but his hair was the only thing he could control at the moment. Everything still hurt, he was adjusting to the arc reactor in his chest, his arms and legs still ached, his back felt like it was on fire, and each time he closed his eyes to try to sleep, the nightmares came to life in full technicolor.

“Tony?”

“Hey. Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I just, I needed...”

Stephen nodded and took the clippers from Tony’s trembling hand, and finished the job for him. He turned off the clippers and laid them on the bathroom counter, then wrapped himself around Tony and held him until he turned in his arms and finally began talking, and couldn’t stop. He lifted his head and reached a hand up, then realized that Stephen’s face was covered in tears and the words shuddered to a halt for a moment before he whispered, “I shouldn’t. I can’t do this to you -”

“If you can’t tell me, Tony, who can you tell?”

“I don’t -” Stephen waited until Tony could catch his breath enough to go on. “I’m not, I can’t. Hell. Will you, can we just go to bed now? Please?”

Stephen nodded, then lifted Tony into his arms and rolled his eyes. “When we get married you will be the one who has to carry me over the threshold.”

Tony blinked at him and Stephen kissed him sweetly, reverently, but not in a way that made him feel broken or fragile; rather, he finally understood that Stephen needed him, not because he was lonely, or felt obligated to be with him after what he had been through, but simply because he loved him. He laid a hand on Stephen’s face and watched a smile light up the face he had loved for so long, and had fought so hard to get home to. “Tomorrow, I’m going to cut your hair so I can see your beautiful face, but tonight -” he kissed him until Stephen nearly fell to his knees, then pulled back and whispered, “you have no idea how I’ve missed you, Stephen.”

Stephen sighed as he kissed Tony’s forehead, “I think I have a good idea, if it’s half as much as I missed you.”

“Take me to bed, Doc?”

“Yeah,” Stephen nodded and, then walked the few hundred feet to the bedroom, and placed Tony carefully in the bed, then undressed and climbed in next to him, and wondered how he had managed to sleep without the man who rolled over on one elbow and looked down into his eyes. He wanted the power to take away the memories of the last few months, at least the ability to ease the pain that was now etched into his features, even as he smiled down at him.

“Sometimes the pain is how we know we’re still alive, Doc.”

Stephen reached up and cradled Tony’s face gently in one of his large hands, and shook his head. “Sometimes pain is just pain, love.” Tony leaned down and brushed the lightest of kisses on his lips, then settled against his shoulder, and after a moment or two of looking into his eyes, eventually fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mostly fluff

"Breathe, Tony, just breathe. Stark, It's me, Stephen. I've got you, you're at home. It's raining, again. The Jets suck as usual this year, the Giants aren't much better, it's the fifteenth of November. You're at home, Tony, with me. Breathe, just breathe, there you are, it's okay." Stephen took a deep breath as Tony finally took a gulp of air and let it go again, then took another breath and opened his eyes to look at the man who held him in his arms.

"I'm sorry."

"Nope."

"Stephen." Tony pulled away from him and sat up with a groan. "What did I do?"

"You dreamed you were drowning."

Tony covered his face with his hands and shook his head. "You didn't sign up for this."

"No, you're right, I didn't sign up for this, or for anything else, there isn't anything contractual that binds me to you, Tony. Nothing on paper, yet. I'm here because I want to be, because I love you, and I don't want to be anywhere else." 

Tony let Stephen pull him back into his arms and they breathed together for a few minutes, then Tony pushed himself up on an elbow and managed to grin at the man in front of him. "You really need a haircut, how do you even see to operate with all these adorable curls in your eyes?"

"There are things called surgical caps, and I'm not adorable."

Tony leaned forward and grinned at him before he pressed his lips against his forehead. "Yes, Stephen Strange, you are undeniably the most adorable man I've ever known in my life." He ran his fingers through Stephen's hair and smiled to himself as he saw Stephen close his eyes and relax into his touch, then cleared his throat. "I promised you a haircut last week, so today after a shower and breakfast, I'm going to give you a brilliant haircut, but not too brilliant, can't have everyone in the operating rooms drooling over their patients when they see how ridiculously hot you are. Tomorrow morning, you are going to go back to work, because it's what you do, and I'm going to go bury myself in the workshop and tinker, because it's what I do, and we are going to be fine."

"Tony."

Tony sat up again and turned away from Stephen. "If I let them change me, change us, stop us from being who we are, then they win, Stephen. They've already taken so much from me, from us, they won't have anymore. I can't spend another day thinking about what happened to me. I need to redesign, upgrade this thing in my chest, and then I have to -"

"Tony."

"Stephen. I don't need a high-priced neurosurgeon to babysit me."

"You think -"

"No. God. I'm saying this wrong. I know - I know how hard the last few months have been for you. No. I do. You've lost weight, gone a bit greyer on the edges, I know you aren't sleeping like you should, you have nightmares of your own, you're always trying to stop me from getting on the plane to Afghanistan, or putting yourself in that cave, instead of me."

"Shit. I'm sorry -"

Tony shook his head at him. "You are one of the strongest, most amazing people I've ever known, Stephen, and even though you don't show it to many people, you have one of the biggest hearts. I am so very lucky that I had you to come home to. I know that if you could you would take all the pain and memories away from me, and take it all on yourself. I know that. But it doesn't work that way, I need to work my way out of this. I don't know why this happened to me, to us, or why I survived it, but there has to be a reason. I have to believe there is a reason, Stephen, and I need to figure it out, will you let me do that, please?"

Stephen sat up and laid his hands on Tony's face and looked into his deep brown eyes and nodded. "After a shower and breakfast."

"And a haircut."

"Yeah, and a haircut." Stephen laughed, then kissed him long and hard, and grinned at him as Tony sighed against his lips. 

"Maybe the shower can wait a bit," Tony muttered under his breath, as he watched Stephen's green eyes go dark and the half smirk grew into a relieved smile, a smile even Tony rarely saw. "Hey, Strange, love, we'll be okay. Won't we?"

"Yeah, Stark, we'll be okay. Better than, I promise." Tony laughed as Stephen pulled him carefully back into his arms and drew the covers back over them, then proceeded to kiss him until he could barely breathe. 

"Love you," Tony breathed out against Stephen's chest.

"Yeah, love you, too, Stark. I love you, too."


End file.
